Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't

OOOOOOOOO

"We going?" he asked rhetorically looking up and getting to his feet. He took both cups in his hands and stepped around the table awkwardly. She allowed herself to follow him to the sink where he deposited the cups. Then she turned and he followed her to her desk. It seemed almost normal. She had a brief second where she thought that maybe she wouldn't have to kill him after all.

OOOOOOOOO

He let her sit down first and then, keeping his arm outstretched for reach, he sat down in his own chair, lying his arm across the desk. The way he was bent though, keeping himself stretched moved her to pity and she obligingly let her hand rest in the middle of the desk, halving the distance he had to reach.

"Thanks," he said with a sigh of relief.

She just made a noncommittal sound and used her right hand to pull the stack of files on her desk closer. She pulled up the top half and passed them to him to look through.

They went through them for almost an hour when he found something.

"Hey, have a look at this guy," he said, sliding her the file.

She cast her eyes over the page Castle opened it to. "What's up Castle? Tony Stevens. It doesn't say he and our Vic were associates."

"Yeah, I know it doesn't say he had any special connection to our Victim, but I was just thinking: he's a gang member."

"Castle, they're all gang members."

He looked at her with a duh look, then continued "I was thinking that gang members don't usually do stuff by themselves. Kind of like dogs. If you're a lone wolf, yeah sure. But if your dog is in a pack?"

"Your point?"

"What if This could be our guy when we go in?"

She looked at him intently, he could practically hear her cogs turning. "What makes you think Stevens would have dirt on our perp?"

"Stevens, our perp and our Vic all entered the gang about the same time. So if they're not friends, maybe they're enemies."

"That's a bit of a long shot, Castle."

"I thought so too but then I saw this," he slid another file over to her. It was the suspect's girlfriend's file. "She and Tony Stevens were arrested together just a few months ago."

"Once."

He shrugged. "Kind of weird the two of them were together. Just the two of them."

"You think there might be something there?"

"I just thought that if there was, our guy Stevens would have been keeping pretty close eyes on our perp and his girlfriend don't you think?"

"Waiting for his chance, or some leverage. He would know where our perp was that night."

"So if Stevens and our Perp aren't friends, in a gang there's a pretty good chance he would have been friends with our Vic. Even if the girlfriend thing doesn't pan out, Stevens couldn't be against our Perp and our Vic."

"So you're saying Steven was probably friends with our vic."

"Yup."

"And what if you're wrong and Stevens is friends with our perp instead?"

"Pfff," he scoffed. "In love with your friend's girl?"

"What?" Beckett asked. She could make up stories too. She had read enough of Castle's work.

"It could happen," she insisted. "If they really have a thing going like you think, isn't it possible that they killed our vic after being caught together and are even now thinking of a way to knock off or escape from our perp?"

She had enjoyed watching his mouth sink lower but she snapped it shut and his eyes twinkled.

"World's best muse."

She hummed appreciatively.

"World's best teacher," he continued, turning his thumb on himself.

She scoffed, but reached for her keyboard.

Her left hand jerked to a stop just short of the pad and she pursed her lips shut to hide her gritted teeth.

Castle obligingly scooted his chair closer till he was close beside her. She tugged the keyboard closer and started a deeper background check on Stevens.

She got through ten minutes before she began feeling the reverberations through the cuffs. She was surprised out of her work and looked over her shoulder sharply to see Castle's pained expression. As soon as he saw her looking he smoothed his face out. She hadn't realized how much he still had to reach.

"What is it, Castle?"

"It's nothing," he smiled.

She gave him a disbelieving look and he just slumped a little and said, This is just hard on my back." He looked at her apologetically. "Do you mind if I stand up and have a stretch?"

Instantly she felt guilty, though she tried not to let it show too much as she got quickly to her feet.

He got up stiffly and she watched him twist and duck with sympathy.

"Thanks," he said a little breathlessly, straightening up.

"This really isn't going to work. You'll end up a cripple at this rate."

"Thanks," he said resentfully.

What are we going to do? She wondered silently, looking at him. If this was hard enough she didn't even want to think about what other challenges daily life was going to have. She saw Ryan and Esposito watching them surreptitiously and gave them a long flat look. They were suddenly very busy again.

"I've been thinking," Castle said, recapturing her attention. "I think I know a more comfortable way to do this."

"You do?" She sounded relieved.

"But you're not going to like it. And I would still have to get up and stretch, but I won't end up a cripple."

She just looked at him expectantly.

He looked uncomfortable.

"Just spit it out, Castle."

"Okay," he pulled on the cuffs. "Move out of the way for a sec."

She allowed the force on the cuffs to guide her to where he wanted her to stand. She watched as he sat himself in her chair.

"You're stealing my chair?" she asked raising both eyebrows but softened the expression with a slight smile. It was supposed to make him relax, but he looked even more uncomfortable.

He looked up at her and swallowed. Using his free hand he patted his lap.

It took her a second to realize he was serious. She felt the smile she had on her face drop off.

"You can't be serious!"

He held up both hands in a helpless gesture. "Have you got any better ideas?"

She just looked at him with her mouth open. She furiously tried to think of an alternative but came up empty. And there he was trying to give her some puppy dog look. She could hear the boys choking. She was going to kill Lanie.

Stiffly she moved around in front of him and settled herself down gingerly. It was warm but harder than she thought and she felt herself shift unwillingly into the dip between his legs. It actually felt kind of good. She was afraid to lean back and feel his chest against her back. She heard him breathing with a deliberate evenness. She tried to do the same. She was sitting in Richard Castle's lap. Oh my God. She couldn't let on how this was affecting her.

Slowly he scooted the chair closer to the table but stopped when her knees hit the bottom of her desk. She obligingly reached for the chair adjustment, hyperaware of the way he felt under her as she leaned to the side.

"No!" he said in a strangled voice, but she had already lifted the tab.

Under their double weight the chair came down with a sudden jolt and she felt the air rush out of him. At the sound she looked around and couldn't help but laugh at his face.

She turned back, still grinning and was able to reach the keyboard easily with Castle's arm resting on the armrest at her side. She started back at her checking, in as good a mood as she was before this had all started.